Over the past year, Syracuse University has made significant progress to enhance accessibility across campus—from academic buildings and residence halls to event programming and technology. (Photo by Steve Sartori)
Back on campus for the start of the 2017-18 academic year, students, faculty and staff will notice a variety of changes that are improving how they move around campus, participate in events and pursue their academic and research endeavors. Over the past year, Syracuse University has made significant progress to enhance accessibility across campus—from academic buildings and residence halls to event programming and technology. The focus on accessibility is the latest step in the University’s long history of advocacy for people with disabilities—both as a worldwide leader with experts in the field and as a place striving to ensure an inclusive community for everyone.
“We are committed to creating a more accessible, inclusive campus,” Chancellor Kent Syverud says. “Every person on campus should feel welcome, supported and empowered as part of our community. That should be reflected in our programs, events and facilities. We will be stronger as a community through our efforts to ensure every person has a place on our campus.”
That idea is a force across campus for making strides in the area of accessibility. Supported and encouraged by the Chancellor’s leadership in this area, various staff members and campus units have been constantly enhancing accessibility and leveling the field for all over the past year—through design, applications, construction, programming and other areas. Students, faculty and staff have been strong advocates for accessibility, working with the University administration.
Substantial steps have been taken through the recommendations of the Chancellor’s Workgroup on Diversity and Inclusion, established in 2015, to help advance accessibility and inclusion throughout campus.
The recommendations and their progress over the past year include the following:
Kennedy Patlan ’18, a member of the Disability Cultural Center Advisory Board and the Campus Facilities Advisory Board, is encouraged by a greater recognition of issues relating to accessibility and enhanced lines of communication between students and the administration. “The administration is continuously taking steps toward identifying the issues, seeing where challenges have existed in the past and has begun to proactively work to fix those issues,” Patlan says.
Patlan has noticed the increasing number of speakers who speak on issues of accessibility and inclusion, the work to transform physical spaces and the promotion of accessibility features at campus events. She notes that the push for accessibility has been a collective effort—with students, faculty, staff and the administration. “It’s cool to see how students as self-advocates can be responsible for improving the lives of students that come next,” says Patlan, a Remembrance Scholar and a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the Newhouse School of Public Communications. “The campus is a place where people stick together and stick up for one another, and consistently work and strive to make campus a better place all the time—that’s inspiring and powerful.”
Students have also initiated programs and projects for greater accessibility on campus. The Student Association relaunched the Cycle Share Program this past spring with adaptive cycling equipment. Student programming, such as OrangeAbility, led by the Disability Student Union, with assistance from the Disability Cultural Center, the Department of Recreation Services and community organization Move Along Inc., continues to draw awareness to the work of students in this area, specifically inclusive athletics.
“It’s evident that the University continues to advocate for those with and without disabilities. Within Student Association, we are strongly committed to these efforts as well, and we are eager to continue and expand upon programs such as Cycle Share as well as support new programs on campus that enhance inclusion and accessibility,” says Angie Pati ’18, vice president of the Student Association, a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program and senior class marshal. “As a rising senior, I am proud of our diverse Orange Family and the welcoming environment the Syracuse University campus fosters; I wish to see a world beyond graduation that fights for these same values, while recognizing that this battle is not yet over.”
Other progress in the area of accessibility on campus over the past year includes the following:
Diane Wiener, director of the Disability Cultural Center, and her staff work closely with students, faculty, staff and the community to improve accessibility and remove barriers. “We’ve expanded our event menu and opportunities for people to participate in inclusive and adaptive sports and dance, music and other events,” says Wiener, who serves as co-chair of the University Council on Diversity and Inclusion and is a member of the Campus Facilities Advisory Board.
All major campus events also now indicate there is American Sign Language interpretation and Communication Access Realtime Translation available if needed and information on who to contact for additional accommodations. “People are coming to think of this as how we do business,” Wiener says. “That’s how it should be.”
With all the work being done on campus, Hodukavich says it makes all of their efforts worthwhile. “We are moving forward and there have been a lot of positive changes, but we’re not satisfied,” he says. “We continue to progress and identify further ways to enhance accessibility on campus.”
